Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Happy birthday, Milton Friedman

Today would have been the 100th birthday of Milton Friedman, who we lost in 2006 at the age of 94.

There's been a lot written about Friedman, the best of which is from Thomas Sowell and Brad Delong, but nothing sums up the man as well as his off-the-cuff response to a question at the end of a 1978 guest lecture at Standord University.

If you can spare an hour and a half, the PBS documentary The Power of Choice does a great job of illustrating just how big an impact this one little man has already had on our civilization.
Milton Friedman taught me one last lesson that I always try to keep in mind when I talk to people about issues of capitalism and freedom: Be a diplomat, not a preacher, and always remember to smile.